On October 28, 2023, people around the world were shocked and heartbroken when it was reported that Friends star Matthew Perry had been found dead in his hot tub. The actor was just 54 years old. Because there was no immediate cause of death that was obvious, an autopsy was performed, and toxicology reports are being run. Perry had struggled with addiction for many years, but had said that he was sober for more than a year before his death.
It didn’t take long for family, friends, costars, and fans to flood social media with their memories of the actors. Perry’s Friends costars released a short statement not long after his death, but they have since shared more personal memories and stories about their relationships with him.
After his death, old interviews that Perry conducted started resurfacing. That included an interview that Perry did in which he spoke about the possibility of making a movie about his life. The actor said that he was hoping to get High School Musical star Zac Efron to play him in the movie, but Efron turned him down.
However, in a recent interview with PEOPLE, Efron said that he would “be honored” to play Perry in a biopic.
“I’m honored to hear he was thinking of me to play him. We’ll see. I’d be honored to do it…. He was a mentor to me, and we made a really cool film together,” he says. “I looked up to him, I learned comedic timing from that guy. I mean, when we were filming 17 Again, it was so surreal for me to look across and have him be there, because I’ve learned so much from him, from his whole life.”
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Efron also said that he was “devastated” when he learned about Perry’s untimely death. The two had starred alongside one another in the 2009 film 17 Again. In the film, Perry plays a disgruntled dad who wonders what his life would have been like if he made different choices. He then goes back in time and sees exactly where he would have ended up. Efron plays the younger, high school version of Perry in the movie.
At this time, we do not know the cause of Perry’s death. Police were called to Perry’s home by his assistant, who called 9-1-1 to report a “cardiac episode.” Preliminary reports indicate that there was no fentanyl or methamphetamines in Perry’s system at the time of his death.
Over the years, Perry had been very open about his struggles with alcohol and drug addiction. Perry said that the problem started in 1997 when he was injured while skiing. His doctor prescribed Vicodin for the pain and, before long, Perry found himself unable to function without the opiates. He also said that, when he was at his lowest, he would take dozens of painkillers and drink liters of vodka every day.
Perry went to rehab several times throughout his life, but one of the last times he spoke about his sobriety, he said that he had been sober for more than a year. The Mr. Sunshine actor felt so strongly about how much rehab can help a person that he even turned his home in Malibu into a sober-living facility, called The Perry House. He ran the Perry House until 2015.